Wire-cloth apron for driers



F. G. SARGENT AND C. T. BROOKS.

WIRE CLOTH APRON FOR DRIERS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC,26. 1919.

1,411,937. Patented Apr. 4, 1922 J; J J .15

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

rnnnnnroxo. SARGENT, or WESTFORD. s p CHARLES r. nnooxs, OFLOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, nssrsnons ro 0. e. ,senen v'rs sons CORPORATION, A

CORPORATION OF IJIAS SAGHUSETTS.

WIRE-CLOTH APRDN non prunes.

l AILQST.

Application filed. December 26, 1919.

To aZl whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FREDERICK G. SAR- o'mrr and CHARLns T. BROOKS, citizens of the United States, respectively residing at \Vestford and Lowell, both in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Wire-Cloth Apron for Driers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire cloth aprons especially adapted for carrying wool and other fibrous materials in driers but, of course, capable of analogous uses.

Difficulty has been experienced in connection with this class of aprons because they have a tendency to creep from side to side and their metallic edges scrape against the sides of the drier causing injury both to the apron and to the walls of the drier itself. Several schemes have been invented for reducing this difficulty but those that have been operated with some degree of success are rather complicated.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide means for keeping an apron of this kind travelling centrally on its drums in such a form that it is reduced to very simple terms; to provide a construction in which no complication whatever will be added to the drums on which the apron travels or the shafts which carry them, the additional features being located solely on the apron itself and being removable and replaceable therewith when the apron wears out; and to provide means on the apron itself for preventing it from straying from side to side which will not only not add to the wear of the apron on the drums, but will actually reduce the same.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan of a wire cloth apron for a wool drying machine, showing a preferred embodiment of this invention applied thereto, and

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the apron showing one of the supporting drums in elevation.

The invention is shown as applied to an ordinary square mesh wire cloth apron 10 which runs over a pair of perfectly cylindrical drums 11. These drums support the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

Serial No. 347,525.

apron and drive it, it being understood that the apron constitutes a conveyor or carrier for wool or any other material. These drums 11 are exactly the same as have been used heretofore, no modification at all being made in them.

The apron itself is modified by providing it with a longitudinal belt 12 located on its inner drum contacting surface and extending uniformly throughout its entire length and also preferably providing two additional belts 13 located on the opposite edges of the apron and coextensive with the belt 12. These belts are preferably formed of leather, made endless in the usual way and secured to the mesh apron by rivets 15 or the like.

These belts, of course, are of material softer than the material of the wire cloth apron and therefore they do not permit of so much wear on the drums as has been the case with the ordinary aprons. They constitute protective surfaces which propel the apron.

from the drums and the wear therefore comes where they engage the drums. Although the wire cloth may engage the drum between the belts, the apron does not get its propulsive force from such contact and there is practically nowear at this point.

The principal advantage of the invention, however, is that these belts necessarily hug the drums and keep the apron running straight on it. lVe regard the central belt as particularly important for this purpose and wish it to be understood that we do not limit ourselves to one single belt between the two edge ones as the number used in practice will depend upon the width of the apron.-

The belts having a material thickness and being located on the inner or driving side of the apron, give a more positive traction and drive the belt more nearly in consonance with the surface speed of the drum. For the same reasons, for keeping the apron running straight as stated, we prefer to use the two edge belts in addition 'to the belt or belts located between them to assist in this action.

Although we have illustrated and described only a single form of the invention, we are aware of the fact that modifications can be made therein by any person skilled in the art without departing from the scopeof the invention as expressed in the claim.

Therefore we do not wish to belimited to all the details of construction herein shown and described, but What We do claim is:

The combination with an endless wire cloth apron for a drier and a drum at each end uniformly cylindrical all the way from end to end over which it runs, of a leather beltlocated entirely on the inner surface of said apron at each edge and a belt on the same surface betrveen said edge belts,all of 10 ,said belts and the apron contacting with the In testimony whereof we have hereunto 1| aflixed our signatures.

FREDERICK G. SARGENT. CHARLES T. BROOKS. 

